Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.3 / Trend, H. Valiyev /
It has become essential to free up frequencies to launch the third generation network 3G, mobile operator Azercell Telecom president Ali Agan said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
He said at present the frequencies provided by Azercell to deploy 3G are used by the company B&BTV, a cable TV operator.
"Despite the fact that the State Radio Frequencies Administration has made a decision to allocate frequencies (2100 MHz), which are necessary for deploying 3G, B&BTV has still has not freed them. I believe that if the frequencies are not freed after the second appeal, then this issue will have to be resolved in court," Mr. Agan said.
With regard to the 3G deployment, Mr. Agan said Azercell has been ready to provide services for this standard for four years.
He said after the network is commercially launched, subscribers will not have to change their current SIM cards. From a financial point of view 3G would seriously affect the reduction of the cost of data transmission services.
An additional licence, as well as the new frequency is needed to provide services in the more advanced communication standard 4G (LTE), Mr. Agan said.
Azerbaijani Communications and IT Ministry issued a licence to provide 3G services to mobile operators Azercell and Bakcell on Wednesday following the ministry board meeting.
At present only one operator, Azerfon has a licence to provide 3G services. Other operators have repeatedly stated that they are ready to provide services in this standard and they all have the required infrastructure.
Also all three mobile operators were asked to submit proposals for introducing the next generation of mobile communication 4G (LTE).